Suzuka Tests: Ugo Ugochukwu Dominates Rookie Session

At the end of these three days of Super Formula testing at the Suzuka circuit, Ugo Ugochukwu set the best overall time during the session reserved for rookies while Jack Doohan crashed for the third time at Degner.

Published 12/12/2025 à 15:03

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Suzuka tests: Ugo Ugochukwu dominates the rookie session

For this third and final day of Super Formula testing at Suzuka, cool and windy weather conditions accompanied the drivers on the Japanese circuit. The fourteen rookies participating in these annual tests thus benefited from three additional hours on track to refine their performance.

This final session allowed Ugo Ugochukwu (Dallara) Toyota) to record the fastest time in testing (1:36.682s), improving on the benchmark set by Igor Fraga (1:37.158s) earlier in the week. These times, however, remain well below the times recorded during the 2024 tests (reference of 1:35.597s by Tadasuke Makino).

The day was once again punctuated by multiple interruptions due to a series of incidents and spins. The first session saw three safety car periods caused by off-track excursions from Kiyoshi Umegaki and Tokiya Suzuki, followed by Jack Doohan's third accident of the week, and then a spin from Ugo Ugochukwu. The second session was no calmer: Souta Arao quickly brought out the red flag after going off at the chicane, before Kiyoshi Umegaki and then Yasuhiro Shimizu caused further interruptions.

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FRECA champion Freddie Slater finished the third day in fourth place and eleventh overall. He is ahead of the driver of Formula 2 Luke Browning, fifth in the rookie session and fourteenth overall.
The next Super Formula test session is scheduled for Suzuka on February 25 and 26, 2026, by which time the various teams will have confirmed their driver lineups for the upcoming season.